Nypa fruticans Frond Waste for Pure Cellulose Utilizing Sulphur-Free and Totally Chlorine-Free Processes
Evelyn Evelyn, Sunarno, David Andrio, Azka Aman, Hiroshi Ohi
Abstract
(nipa palm) fronds from agricultural residues were evaluated to produce pure cellulose by combining prehydrolysis for 1-3 h at 150 °C, sulfur-free soda cooking for 1-1.5 h at 160 °C with 13-25% active alkali (AA), 0.1% soluble anthraquinone (SAQ) catalyst, and three-stage totally chlorine-free (TCF) bleaching, namely oxygen, peroxymonosulfuric acid, and alkaline hydrogen peroxide stages. The optimal conditions were 3 h prehydrolysis and 1.5 h cooking with 20% AA. Soda cooking with SAQ was better than the kraft and soda process without SAQ. The method decreased the kappa number as a residual lignin content index of pulp from 13.4 to 9.9-10.2 and improved the yields by approximately 6%. The TCF bleaching application produced pure cellulose with a brightness of 92.2% ISO, 94.8% α-cellulose, viscosity of 7.9 cP, and 0.2% ash content. These findings show that nipa palm fronds can be used to produce pure cellulose, serving as a dissolving pulp grade for viscose rayon and cellulose derivatives.